BREAKING: Elijah Hawkins to transfer

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atsgopher said:
So you think that the five star players this year, are somehow better than the five stars from last year? And the Five star a d four star guys they lost from 2022?

What makes you think they’ll be prepared? What is different about them?
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Cooper Flagg is seen as one of the best prospects since LeBron…so he’s starting, the C (Malauch) is going to be a stud (not like Dennis Evans). Two starters there…

Theses two will be top 5 picks in 2025.

In terms of duke PGs, roach was nothing special.


atsgopher said:
So you think that the five star players this year, are somehow better than the five stars from last year? And the Five star a d four star guys they lost from 2022?

What makes you think they’ll be prepared? What is different about them?
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Roland Brooks said:
Didn’t figure out how to win the West outright and won a couple bowl games that were the equivalent of playing in the CBI tournament..
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2019 was equal to making the sweet 16. 2021 and 2022 were equivalent to making the NCAA tournament
 

GoldenMAV30266 said:
How is it legal for other schools to talk to kids not in the portal? This sounds fishy as hell and instances like this need to be looked into deeper.
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By Whom? Who is the group to look into this? This is the problem, it's an absolute free for all and if there are rules, I don't know what they are... this is the reason I really don't pay too much attention to college sports at this point.

So sad too; I really preferred college sports over pro sports due to money issues, but now, the way things have devolved with college athletics, my week nights and weekends have opened up quite a bit.

Not a bad thing either I've come to realize!
 

DanvilleGopher said:
By Whom? Who is the group to look into this? This is the problem, it's an absolute free for all and if there are rules, I don't know what they are... this is the reason I really don't pay too much attention to college sports at this point.

So sad too; I really preferred college sports over pro sports due to money issues, but now, the way things have devolved with college athletics, my week nights and weekends have opened up quite a bit.

Not a bad thing either I've come to realize!
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Yep, this is just status quo. The new status quo just sucks.
 

howeda7 said:
Maybe Coach P and PJ can teach Ben how to navigate the portal as a Minnesota coach. Or maybe players aren't dying to play for a historically poor coach who's seat is red hot.
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Call me crazy but if Ben has more years like last year - middle of Big Ten pack and being NIT participants - wouldnt that be about the same success that PJ has had? Lets not act like PJ is putting together world-beater rosters every year here
 



billytwoshoes said:
Call me crazy but if Ben has more years like last year - middle of Big Ten pack and being NIT participants - wouldnt that be about the same success that PJ has had? Lets not act like PJ is putting together world-beater rosters every year here
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Even with his shortcomings, Fleck has built the best football program in my 50 years as a fan, including the best season. Where does Ben rank on the hoops side?
 

60's Guy said:
So, let's just fantacize and say USC hired Ben instead of Muss...would Ben have 8 guys who averaged high double figures a couple days after being hired?
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Muss was actively recruiting the portal well before he got the USC job, and his targets remained the same from one school to the other, so he's had a lot of time to recruit. Also last year he did the same thing and they were horrific and unwatchable.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Even with his shortcomings, Fleck has built the best football program in my 50 years as a fan, including the best season. Where does Ben rank on the hoops side?
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And was that best season before or after the transfer portal/NIL madness started? By my recollection it was before, when coaches were allowed to run a program the way they wanted to. Fleck's also under .500 in the Big Ten despite avoiding playing in the Big Ten East gauntlet. The comparison is stupid and doesnt help evaluate a basketball coach. Fleck has had good success for the limitations of the Gopher's situation, last year was a good step for Ben to get to that same level
 

billytwoshoes said:
Call me crazy but if Ben has more years like last year - middle of Big Ten pack and being NIT participants - wouldnt that be about the same success that PJ has had? Lets not act like PJ is putting together world-beater rosters every year here
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You're crazy. Talk to me when Ben has a season like Fleck had in 2019. Or even 2021. Ben would have to go 12-8 in the B1G for the next 7 years in a row to achieve the same winning % in conference.
 



skiumah1 said:
Nah, I'm a huge fan but I don't believe I'll ever be donating to the cause either. Unless you count buying the Grey Duck beer haha

I'll hold you to that if we do dance next year - You are not allowed to enjoy it
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Okay deal. Hahaha.
 

The biggest problem is that there seems to be about a 50/50 split on this superfans site as to how many people are willing to maintain their same level of fandom with this brave new world.

Maybe a small sample size, but all my friends who are casual to slightly above casual fans have just stopped paying attention because of this crap.
 



CPTMidnight said:
He oversees the program, he hired and manages the current coach (proudly btw) the trajectory of 8+ years is way down from a mediocre program back then, and we are getting outworked on the NIL side from no name schools. Football also has dipped (I would guess NIL will hit them hard also)

Who here cares how well women's soccer is doing right now?
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NIL hasn't hit the football team hard at all. Football just pulled two transfers from helmet schools this week.

This is why blaming Coyle for the basketball woes is completely stupid and inaccurate.
 

I keep hearing that the NCAA should have done something sooner. The NCAA and the Universities don't mind this new system at all. They found a way to get the players paid, without them paying!! The Gophers make 100M on the BTN contract (or whatever the figure is) whether they field a competitive team or not.
 

Gopher-in-Keno said:
I keep hearing that the NCAA should have done something sooner. The NCAA and the Universities don't mind this new system at all. They found a way to get the players paid, without them paying!! The Gophers make 100M on the BTN contract (or whatever the figure is) whether they field a competitive team or not.
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Paid losers like professional wrestling.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
NIL hasn't hit the football team hard at all. Football just pulled two transfers from helmet schools this week.

This is why blaming Coyle for the basketball woes is completely stupid and inaccurate.
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Were you at the summer roadshow ~3 years ago when Coyle addressed how NIL would change the AD role role? He seemed unsure on how to approach it then and it is clear he is behind and we don't have a ton of hope to catch up to the more successful schools.

I am sure he is a nice guy but he is acting as a glorified government administrator and we need an entrepreneur and pure sales guy.

He brought in Ben who is not going to help on that side and is still learning how to be a D1 coach. At this point lets keep Ben and replace Coyle. For a million bucks a year we can find a guy who can help us catch up on NIL and give Ben the horsepower he needs to compete.
 
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Big picture, I think this is good news.

You don't need the best arena. You don't need the best facilities. You don't need the best academic offerings. You don't need a history of championships. You don't need a famous coach.

You don't need anything other than money.

That's opportunity, right there.

The University of Minnesota is one of the wealthiest schools in America. And if it only comes down to money and none of those other factors...
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
NIL hasn't hit the football team hard at all. Football just pulled two transfers from helmet schools this week.

This is why blaming Coyle for the basketball woes is completely stupid and inaccurate.
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Isn't the guy running NIL a former Gopher football player? There is likely going to be a bit of a lean that way. Plus football is the cash cow at schools. The collective needs to have specific people working for specific sports. It's a full-time job for each sport IMO. Would be interesting to know how many people are dedicated to NIL.
 

Now that the news has had time to digest a bit, I think to be fair we should acknowledge that there is probably some fan of Howard men’s bball out there saying something like this:

“Minnesota fans outraged that some bigger school stole Hawkins from them …. one year after they stole him from Howard. :rolleyes:“
 

CPTMidnight said:
Were you at the summer roadshow ~3 years ago when Coyle addressed how NIL would change the AD role role? He seemed unsure on how to approach it then and it is clear he is behind and we don't have a ton of hope to catch up to the more successful schools.

I am sure he is a nice guy but he is acting as a glorified government administrator and we need an entrepreneur and pure sales guy.

He brought in Ben who is not going to help on that side and is still learning how to be a D1 coach. At this point lets keep Ben and replace Coyle. For a million bucks a year we can find a guy who can help us catch up on NIL and give Ben the horsepower he needs to compete.
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Alright this is my last response to you because if you're going to continue to post everyday that Coyle is a bigger problem than Ben, then you are clueless. Plus you just continue to make up nonsense to try and support your terrible opinion.

If other sports at the U were having this problem then maybe I would agree with you. This is a Ben Johnson problem, and it ends there. When they hire a new, competent coach after next season, suddenly NIL won't look like such an issue.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yep, this is just status quo. The new status quo just sucks.
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I am not sure "sucks" covers it.

The thing is, I am not sure there is a solution to fix it. We all know the schools will never "hire" the players as employees because they won't want to deal with a players union, and we know the courts seem to have no interest in allowing college sports to be what it once was. Is there any sort of middle ground we can find that will make this all work?

Unlike football what made college basketball great was while there was haves and have nots even no name schools can make a run in the tourny. Sure you might not win, but who cares making the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight or Final Four is still a fantastic season! All it took was a couple really good players on a veteran team and you can pull a couple upsets and become a Cinderella. Everyone loved it because everyone legit had a chance. That is going to go away as now no team is going to be veteran enough to pull that off.
 

billytwoshoes said:
And was that best season before or after the transfer portal/NIL madness started? By my recollection it was before, when coaches were allowed to run a program the way they wanted to. Fleck's also under .500 in the Big Ten despite avoiding playing in the Big Ten East gauntlet. The comparison is stupid and doesnt help evaluate a basketball coach. Fleck has had good success for the limitations of the Gopher's situation, last year was a good step for Ben to get to that same level
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A step not likely to be built upon. And if you are going to ding Fleck for avoiding the East at least ding Ben for having one of the worst NC schedules in the country and losing the 2 toughest games in that NC schedule. Not to mention his rotation of players down the stretch definitely played into why the team faltered.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Isn't the guy running NIL a former Gopher football player? There is likely going to be a bit of a lean that way. Plus football is the cash cow at schools. The collective needs to have specific people working for specific sports. It's a full-time job for each sport IMO. Would be interesting to know how many people are dedicated to NIL.
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So now the excuse is that DTA is favoring football over basketball because of who runs it? That is how desperate for excuses we are? Well, first of all football should get more there is more players. Second, pretty sure football brings in more money. Third, football has a better track record and larger fanbase. So if you are right and DTA is somehow pushing more money one way or another it would seem they are pushing it the right way.

Ya know nothing is stopping a basketball booster from setting up his own deal...or donating to DTA and earmarking it for basketball. Where are all the people in the community who supposedly supported the Ben hiring and applauded it? Why arent they stepping up? I mean if we are to believe random people no one knows on the internet Hawkins was offered $250k to stay and turned it down so DTA is definitely doing what they can.
 

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